Russian Police Raid Offices of Yukos Oil

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Russian Police Raid Offices of Yukos Oil
《纽约时报》: 尤科斯总部再遭查抄



(中文大意)

　　在俄石油巨头尤科斯（Yukos）公司称其处于财务崩溃边缘之后一天，俄执法部门周六查抄了该公司总部。

　　来自俄内务部警察和联邦检察官于周六下午包围了这座20层建筑，人们看见政府调查人员进进出出，并拒绝回答在外等待记者们提题。俄新闻机构报道，检查机构官员们称检察官收走了公司资产详细目录。

　　尤科斯官员称，相信这是政府进一步寻找支持起诉被拘押的公司创始人霍多尔科夫斯基（Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky）的新证据。


OSCOW, July 3 - The headquarters of the embattled Russian oil giant Yukos were raided Saturday by law enforcement officers, a day after the company said it was on the brink of financial ruin.

Police officers from the Russian Interior Ministry and from the federal prosecutor's office ringed the 20-story building in the southwestern district of the city on Saturday afternoon, and government investigators were seen entering and leaving it. They refused to comment to reporters outside.

Russian news agencies reported that officials with the prosecutor's office said prosecutors were to take inventory of Yukos's assets.

However, an official at Yukos said he believed that the government was looking for evidence to bolster its case against the company's jailed founder, Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky. Investigators were seizing documents and computer servers, a Yukos employee told the Interfax news agency. The Yukos official said the seizure of computer servers \"could interfere\" with what he called the \"industrial activities of the company,\" including the production and transportation of oil at subsidiaries.

The search came just after a series of actions by law enforcement agencies against Yukos this week. In recent days, a court ruled that Yukos would have to pay a $3.4 billion back-tax claim for 2000.

The Russian Tax Ministry has accused Yukos of evading taxes by channeling money through offshore companies. But the tax bill is widely seen as part of a larger Kremlin-backed campaign against Yukos and Mr. Khodorkovsky, who faces separate criminal charges. Yukos has said the tax claims would bankrupt the company, as its assets have been frozen by an earlier court ruling.